Detonating composition.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

nausea" ,Goonwnr; or summon runn nounou, ENGLAND. ASSIGNOR 'IO ELEYsaomnns, ;nmrren, or snmonron, .LounoN, ENGLAND.

nnrommme comrosrrron.

KuDrawing.

- su1fur,-mealed powder, .etc .are objectionabletmsseveralrespeots.tlhuson firin -,a rifle I (in articular-any small rimz-fire ri'fle of.QQdncli-calibQnio whiehthis invention Especially-applicable). and thenopening the breech to extract the fired cartridge e case and :tointroduce tenet-her nartridge, the shooter is frequently seriouslyincomw-W v ienced by the ofiens-ive tomes which have been ,ioumed. bythe.v combustion of the explosive contentsof the cartridge, suchcontents of the. oartri dge asis well known beingcomposed of .-a Smallcharge of detonating composition -.-which was contsinediin aperevssiehlcepeef Q iI -Jtheriiniofl fliem-iire Y cartridge, and thelarger charge of pro el-lent nowder j which (was ignited by. the amesfrom the e tplosion of the ldetonating comp iti s with. oriwit-houhtheassistance of a. layer of black or smokeless powder located between the.detonating. composition and the propeL lent ,powder. Besides this, .theresidues formedi by thecombustion of the. explosive 40 contents s 1eyv;wn9nessl) .etrei etiesh of, cartridgesiactiug 1n. conjunctionlwith,at

mospheric, moisture, produce -a very considenable rustingefl'fect duetithe-chemical action. upon. the. interior surface of the rifle barrel.Moreover in cart-ridges asatpresent" constructed, it is commonlynecessary to 9111- ploy allay-er oflblackfor"smokelefi powder to provides sufi'icient volume of suitable flame to ignite the propelleut powderin theflesiredmanner without casualties, such for instance as'bursts inthe rims of the cartridgc'asezlai'itt'lT-jd iii oriinitions of ordinarykinds. igui so." P '1' (v .pressure and cannot therefore be stronglycompressed;

" and rthereby are -d-tfiicult .-.and dangerous end are notsufiicient-iysem in manufactm'e,

'-S,pecificatio n ofletters Patent. Application filed Deceinhe1:,20.-911. user-mm" 668,889.

Patented Juno 1] 191 2.

sitirezto the striker of the rifle: also lmt-ha small quantity ofordinary detonatiug; (011% position can be located in a rim of arim-tire cartridge, because bursts of the rim and head are'tobe fearedby reason of the violence of detonation of such compositions. Further,ordinary detonating compositions explode with a loudreport.

In the manufacture of dot-ousting com positions it has been pro osed toemploy in one instance aimixt ure o. fulminate, of mercur-y, gun cotton-.ancl,-potassium chlorate; in another instance, n plastic explosive consist-ingiof' :fulmiuate of mercury incorporated into a paste ofnitroglycerin-and a oellulose'nitrate (the mixture being subsequentlydeprived of its remaining solvent) with or without the addition of .adeterring V agent such as 'nitrobenzene. or a nitrousph' thalene; and-ina third instance it haszbeen proposed to-replace: thew-hole or partofthe tulm-inate of mercury by disruptive nitro compounds such ,as pioricacid mom- ,dlanzl trinitrotoluenes, trirnitrocresol :and its salts,- thenitreted naphthalenes, and similar. substances.

Nowthe, object of the present invehtiongs to provide a detonatingicomposition 111 which-the before stated disadvantages. andifficultiesare wholly or in great. part overome and obviated-bytheemployment of detonating compositions composedwaccording to thisinvention-ms hereafter ,de'' y scribed. I

{The composition or com-.ositionsiaccord- 9. ing to this inventiondiffer! romthoseofthe usuahkinds in the following points 1. In thereplacement of the whole or .ipnrtiof the, otassium-chlorateicomm0ulv'--- employed in t 16 usual detonating compoun s 9- by amir'ztureof trinit-rotolueneJand a peroxid,-pret'erablythat ofbag'i n. Ipreferably employ ,tri-nitrotohene which melts at 81 0., as being besteuitedto the compositiom-but, instead orias asu-bstitute thereft'or, Imight employ, in carrying out this invention, trin-itroto uenes of lowermelting point, i or. othernitrotoluenes, cellulose nitrates'picric-acid. nitroresols, nitro xylenes, ,nitronapl'ithalenes .orsimilar-known s'ubsti-..

trinitrotoluene a s; nfore'saidtobehest, suited .for. the'piirpose'. Itis not proposed according to this invention 1 to --replace 'the-=:-fulm' m te-pf mercury, either wholly or in part, 119

.tutes-t'or t-riuitrotoluene' althoughl l .c,onsider" by the bariumperoxid and trinit rotoluene, but simply to replace the whole or part ofthe potassium chlorate. The compositions according to this inventionma yin fact contain a larger perce tage of iuh inate of mercury than cartl i.no kinds which contain tmtassuun chlorate as commonly used. V

' 2. In the use of a mud of tulmiuate of mercury,-in the aforesaidcomposition according to this invention, prepared by precipitation froma solution of one of its double salts-such as those of potassium c v--anid or oFpyridin, by which means is obtained a mud of small crystals ofuniform size. I

Methods of precipitation of fulminat of mercury are already known andtherefore do not require description in this specification.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, I. will 'ivemerely by way of example a more detai ed manufact ore of the detonatingcomposition according to this invention.

3 parts of wet fulminate of mercury, in its precipitated statecontaining about 22% of water (orthe c entwein'tof dry fulminate ofmercury, namely about 2.4 parts) are thoroughly incorporated with twoparts of a powdered mixture of v.16

parts ofbarium peroxid, 7 parts of stibnite and 4% parts of'trinit-rotoluene. A charge of about 0.9 grain ofthis composition isintroduced into the rim of a .22 rim-fire cartridge case, dried, andsubmitted to a strong pressure in order to raise to the desired degreethe sensitiveness ofthe cartridge to the rifle-strikeri. The charge ofpropellent powder is then introduced and the cartridge loaded in theusual manner.

The compositions according to this invention (which have been proved tobe highly stable) may also be made by mixing the dry .constituents byany known process; and the percentage of the various parts can bealtered to suit the kind of ignition required.

By the em )loymentof denotating compositions accoring to this inventionand such as have been specified. a smaller quantity of less offensive tutl s fire rrn i on firing, so that especially on a closed range theshooter is considerably benefited.

The rusting effect due to the action on the interior surface of therifle barrel of the [residues formed by the combustion of the explosivecontents acting in conjunction with the atmospheric moisture as beforestated, is very considerably decreased. Further, the necessity for theuse of the intermediate layer oif' black or smokeless powder in thecartridge is removed.

The detonating composition according ;toj'

the present invention, whether in mouse dry powder. or'in ww'ct paste,is much lesssensr tive to friction or percussion than those of theordinary kinds, and can be safely subjected to high pressure, to causethe composafer formanufacturing uses, and yet enablea cartridge to beproduced which is more easily fired by a weak rifle-striker. The said'detonating composition described can also be used in larger quantitieswithout damage on firing to the rim and head of the cartridge, becausethe total and local violence of the gas pressure produced in the riln'ofthe cartridge case is considerably decreased and the combustion of thepropellcnt powder is moreover facilitated by the gr ater body of flamewhich is given off in the explosion of the improved (amposition, Thenoise of the explosion of the cartridge in which the improvedcomposition is em ployed is decreased. the said C(Jl'iiDt'lSilltHligniting with a faint report and a largo flame. I

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1.The herein-described dctouating composition comprising a lulminate ofmercury, a peroxid and trinitrotoluene.

2. The herein-described detomiting composition comprising a fuhninate ofmercury, barium peroxid and a trinitrotoh'tcnc.

3. The herein-described detonating (omposition comprising finely dividedfi-ilmimuo of mercury, a peroxid and trinitrohdunno.

4. The herein describcd detonuting com position comprising finelydivided t'ulminato of mercury, barium peroxid and triuitrotoluene.

5. The herein-described detonating composition comprising a fulminate ofmercury. barium pero'xid. stibnite and trinitrotoluenc.

6. The herein-described detonating composition comprising about 2.4.parts of .t'uhni- In witness whereof I have lu-rculuo sol my hand in thepresence of two \vitue-.- ERNEST GOODW Witnesses:

Tnoams Wannmn Rooms.

' lVInL'IASrAQ 'MAiis'nALL.

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